Rooftop solar… what a good idea!
Best to buy the best, n’est pas? Purchasing a cheaper system is false economy they say… So, I gathered my pennies and bought the system advertised ad nauseam with letter box pamphlets. Cost was $14,000. The best, German designed and made, guarantied for 25 years.
Took these people over six months to get around to inspecting the roof and another month to get around to installing it. Pamphlets continued unabated…
Great, everything was working well… for about 18 months. Then nothing!
Found that the original installer (A) had gone bust. Eventually tracked down the company (B) who had bought out A. Contacted them and waited over 12 months for them to come and inspect/fix the system.
They had the records and were aware that it was a BlueLine system, so very expensive…
Finally arrived, removed the BlueLine larger of the two boxes on the wall down from the rooftop system, replaced it with a box without promotional labels on the outer cardboard container, so a much cheaper version. First box did not work so replaced that one with another which also did not work.
It was dark by the so the young chap said that it would all work in the morning when the sun was out again. This did not happen.
Second chap was eventually sent after many phone calls. He took the larger box out, then inspected the smaller of the two boxes on the wall and found that it was all rusty inside so replaced that ($150).
Still nothing was happening. He turned off the system on the roof mounted part, drove off and never came back despite numerous call to his employers.
Five years have gone by with a small fortune spent on trying to get these people who in fact actually stole the larger BlueLine box which quite possibly was still working well, to (1) answer my calls and (2) finish the repairs.
BlueLine have also gone bust and according to the sheath of papers sent by their lawyers, owe numerous people lots of money, most of which no one will receive from them.
Company B appears to have vanished into thin air.
Is there nothing we, the trusting customers who have been robbed, can do about these companies who promise great service, give nothing and take everything?
Why are companies who set themselves up at the beginnings of boom times for various products like solar, not made to take out enough insurance to cover the people they rip off, before they can actually start trading? Are these people ever jailed for their fraudulent and dishonest behaviour or do they just wait a while and the start up a new money making/thieving enterprise?
Who can be trusted to repair my $14,000 guarantied for 25 years system? Will it cost more to fix it than get a whole new system?
There must be a better answer than just ‘nothing can be done’!
